Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 397 Starry Sky Dream Yellow Wine
Xiulan tried to make some mooncakes for this Mid-Autumn Festival. Lin Heng bought some, but she had nothing to do at home taking care of the children, so she decided to make some herself.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the stinky mandarin fish was already prepared. Lin Heng gave one to his eldest brother, kept two for himself, and stored the remaining three in the freezer for later use.

After the stinky mandarin fish is cleaned, the smell is actually not pungent, and it is almost impossible to smell after being fried in oil. No seasoning is needed, just some ginger slices and peppercorns, add a little chili sauce and cook for two minutes before serving.

The meat of stinky mandarin fish is very firm and has a special smell that is hard to tell whether it is stinky or fragrant, but it is really delicious.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin Heng woke up early in the morning to take care of the children, while Xiulan and the others went to the Guanyin Temple to burn incense and also blessed Xiaoxia's green fish stone pendant.

At noon, Lin Heng's family prepared a large table and invited his parents, eldest brother and his family. In the evening, they went to his eldest brother's house to eat. The Mid-Autumn Festival day ended in a happy dinner.

Fish, chicken, tofu, crabs and snails made everyone feel happy and satisfied and even felt like they were going to gain two pounds.

After finishing the meal, when I came out, the moon was already high in the sky. The bright yellow moon seemed to reveal small craters on it.

Xiulan brought out mooncakes and mosquito coils, and Caiyun brought out checkers. Today, his parents were not in a hurry to leave, but stayed with him to play.

While eating mooncakes and chatting, Xiaoxia asked everyone to tell her stories about the moon. Mr. and Mrs. Lin knew quite a few stories about the moon, and they smiled and told them to Xiaoxia.

"Grandma will tell you the story of Chang'e flying to the moon." Mother Lin said while holding her.

"Grandpa will tell you the story of Wu Gang cutting the cassia tree and the jade rabbit pounding medicine later." Father Lin also said with a smile.

None of them had read many books and they only told stories about myths passed down orally, stories that Lin Heng had also told him when he was a child.

Xiaoxia shook her head. She had heard this story many times. "No, no, I've heard these two before. I don't want to hear them anymore!"

"Then we won't do anything else, my dear granddaughter." Mother Lin spread her hands helplessly.

"Dad, tell me." Xiaoxia snuggled into Lin Heng's arms and said coquettishly.

Lin Heng put down his food, looked at her and said, "Then let me tell you about the world we live in. Xiaoxia, do you think the world we live in is round or square?"

Xiaoxia tilted her head and thought for a while, then pointed at the moon and said, "It's round. The moon is round."

"In fact, the world we live in is a sphere. We live on the surface of the sphere. If we keep walking in one direction, we will eventually return to the starting point from the back..."

Lin Heng took the round pastry to demonstrate to Xiaoxia. Xiaoxia opened her eyes wide and was surprised to find that she could really return to the starting point by walking around on the ball.

"Then why are there plains and mountains?" Lin's mother beside her asked in confusion.

"That's because we are too small and the sphere is too big. Overall, even the tallest mountain is just an inconspicuous little bump on the sphere of the Earth, just like the lines on our palms, which are insignificant and do not affect the sphere at all..."

"Also, the moon revolves around our Earth, and the side it faces us is always the same. This is called tidal locking..."

"Outside the sky, the sun is actually a huge fireball..."

Lin Heng told Xiaoxia all of this starting from the simplest astronomical knowledge, and tried his best to explain it all. Caiyun next to him also helped to explain.

Not only Xiaoxia was fascinated by this knowledge, but his parents were also fascinated by it.

After Lin Heng finished speaking, everyone was still looking up at the starry sky, as if at this moment everyone understood what the moon meant and what the stars in the sky meant.

It turns out that the universe is so big and so gorgeous, and it turns out that human beings are so small.

"Dad, I really want to fly out and see the moon." Xiaoxia said, curled up in Lin Heng's arms and looking at the moon.

"Then you can work hard to become an astronaut, and then you can take a rocket out to see the earth." Lin Heng said with a smile.

There was a time when he really wanted to fly out to see if the earth was really round. The universe was so mysterious that it made people full of curiosity, but he was destined to never have the chance.

But Xiaoxia still has it. She can use her advantage as a prophet to get enough money to train her in that direction.

However, it all depends on what Xiaoxia wants to do when she grows up. One of the meanings of him making money is that his children can do whatever they want.

"Then I want to be an astronaut when I grow up!" Xiaoxia said, raising her little hand.

"I want to be an astronaut too!" Lin Wei's voice was heard in the yard of the big brother next door. Obviously he also heard Lin Heng's speech.

"Then you have to work hard and don't let your dreams fade." Lin Heng smiled, picked up the mooncake, handed one to his wife, and ate one himself.

"Hearing you put it that way, the universe is really incredible."

Lin's father and mother also looked emotional.

Lin Heng smiled and said, "So you guys should enjoy your life more and don't work so hard all the time. If you need to hire someone, just hire someone."

"We know." Father Lin also smiled and stood up. "Okay, let's go back and sleep."

Lin Heng stood up and sent the two of them out. Looking at the two of them talking with flashlights and gradually walking towards Hongfeng Mountain, he felt a little emotional.

When Lin Heng came back, Xiulan had already entered the house because her son was crying, and Caiyun had also taken her things back.

After taking a look at the bright moon and the quiet moonlit night, he walked into the house to help Xiulan.

After changing the diapers of his two sons, he carried them into the bedroom, where Xiulan fed them again. Then Lin Heng put them in the cradle and rocked them to sleep.

The two sons' beds were at the foot of Lin Heng and his friends, and the daughter's bed was on their left. When Lin Heng and his friends were coaxing their sons to sleep, Xiaoxia crawled over again and acted like a spoiled child: "Dad, can you tell me about the earth, the moon, and the sun again? I want to hear more."

"Okay, wait a moment, your brother will fall asleep soon." Lin Heng said, touching her head.

Xiaoxia nodded and lay on the edge of the bed looking at her two younger brothers. After a while, they fell asleep and were placed in the crib, covered with a small quilt and a small mosquito net.

After taking off his clothes and getting into bed, Lin Heng told Xiaoxia again the astronomical knowledge he had told her before. He felt a pity that materials were too scarce in that era and it was difficult to buy planet models and globes. There were also no small astronomical telescopes, otherwise he could take Xiaoxia to see the moon clearly.

Xiaoxia gradually fell asleep as he was telling her story. It seemed that she would have a wonderful dream tonight.

"I feel very tired today." Lin Heng lay down and looked at Xiulan.

"Although I'm a little tired, I'm also very happy." Xiulan replied, looked at him and said softly, "Go to sleep."

When it comes to mid-autumn, the temperature gradually starts to get colder. You need to cover yourself with a quilt when you sleep at night, otherwise you will be cold in the early morning.

The quilts I use for my daughter and son are all fixed at the four corners so they can't be kicked open. Even so, I always have to get up in the middle of the night to cover them.

The next day, life was still as usual. After breakfast, Lin Heng went to the part of the town where the national highway was being repaired. He quickly met the excavator master by passing cigarettes. After chatting for a while, the master said he had to find the project manager.

He introduced the project manager to Lin Heng, and when the discussion was almost over, Lin Heng asked him and the project manager to have dinner at the Jinyu Restaurant in the town. In the afternoon, he took people to Hongfeng Mountain to see the approximate scale. Finally, after some discussions and negotiations, Lin Heng paid 2,000 yuan to get the deal done.

When the excavator came to start digging, he paid a deposit of 500 yuan, and paid the remaining 1,500 yuan after the digging was completed.

The regulations state that in addition to building a dirt road to the top of the mountain and digging two 1,500-square-meter platforms, they also have to help reclaim other wasteland.

Originally, Lin Heng wanted a large platform of 3,000 square meters, but they said that the large platform would require too much work, so it was eventually changed to two platforms of 1,500 square meters, which have the same area but much less work.

After Lin Heng sent the people away, Lin's father came over impatiently and asked, "Son, are you done?"

"How much is it?" Lin's mother also asked quickly.

Lin Heng explained: "It's agreed. Two thousand yuan, not including the money for cigarettes and meals, they will be responsible for..."

"So expensive!" Lin's mother was a little surprised.

Father Lin glanced at her and said, "It looks expensive, but it's not a big loss to be able to do so many things for you. If it's manual labor, the money is higher but the work is slower. It may not be completed in half a year."

"Yes, digging will be much faster. And since it's the National Day holiday on the 1st, they will come over and start digging first." Lin Heng nodded.

"Okay then." Lin's mother nodded. She was just asking about this kind of thing. If Lin Heng thought it was okay, then it was fine.

"By the way, son, there is one more thing. Two of the oxen are in estrus again, and I estimate that the other cows will also be in estrus soon." Father Lin said at this time.

"I'll go and see if I can get a few cattle for breeding in the next two days." Lin Heng said as he walked over.

The big yellow cow that his family gave to his eldest brother had been fanned and was not suitable for breeding, but there were still many big yellow cows in the village that had not been fanned.

He put on his water pants and came to the cattle and sheep pen. He first checked whether the cows were in estrus, and then took a shovel to clean the feces and disinfect the sheep pen.

Special attention should be paid to hygiene during the period after the lambs are born. Not only should the sheep pen be cleaned every two days, but their umbilical cords should also be disinfected with alcohol.

Sheep cannot be vaccinated as soon as they are born, so special attention needs to be paid to these issues.

When they grow up, they still need to be vaccinated. Although according to his memory, there will not be any major cattle and sheep epidemics in the next few years, they still need to be vaccinated when the time comes. Don't save even a little money.

After cleaning the sheep pen and rinsing the water pants, Lin Heng returned home.

Xiulan made steamed buns with fennel leaves today, which tasted very good when paired with porridge.

Lin Heng told her what happened today, and Xiulan thought it was a good deal.

After dinner, Lin Heng did not go out and stayed at home to help take care of the children. Xiulan wanted to use last year's stale glutinous rice and wheat to make rice wine.

The first step in making rice wine is to make malt koji. Select the best wheat and grind it with a millstone. Xiulan has already prepared all of this, so Lin Heng just needs to help grind it.

Because not much was ground, no animals were needed. Two people ground the flour by hand pushing a stone mill. There was no need to remove the bran from the flour. It could be steamed directly in a pot. After steaming, it was cooled to room temperature, the koji was added, stirred evenly, and then placed in a jar and sealed for fermentation.

At this time in the evening, the malt koji has been made. It will take a week for it to ferment, and then we can start making rice wine.

In fact, there are rice wine koji sold on the market now, and you can just buy it and make it directly with glutinous rice, but farmers still prefer their own oral production method, and the rice wine made from it tastes more mellow.

The next morning, after breakfast, Lin Heng and his father went door to door in the village looking for suitable oxen to breed with the cows in estrus.

After looking around, they finally chose the big yellow cattle from Jin Yan's family, because her family also raised cattle and sheep. The big yellow cattle had a well-proportioned and strong physique, and its eggs were very large. Lin's father thought it was a good material for breeding.

"Old Jin, let's take it over for breeding." After discussing it, Father Lin looked at Jin Yan's father and said with a smile that the breeding fee was one dollar, and they would be kept at Hongfeng Mountain for breeding in the next two days.

Although the Lin family’s marriage proposal to the Jin family was unsuccessful in the past, there were not many conflicts, so it was normal to borrow cows for breeding.

"Okay." Jin Gui took a puff of cigarette and nodded with a smile. He took Lin Heng and the others to pull the big bull and wanted to go to Hongfeng Mountain together.

They led the cows to Hongfeng Mountain. Jingui looked around curiously, looking extremely envious.

Lin Heng asked his father to follow Jingui and not let him run around, and then he and his mother led the two cows in heat over.

In front of everyone, first clean the key parts of the cow with water, then check it before you can start.

Someone helped to hold the cow down so that the big bull could complete the breeding better. After that, they fed it some grass. It will be kept here at Red Maple Mountain for the next two days and will have to mate a few more times to ensure success.

After Jin Gui took a look, he went back with peace of mind.

Lin Heng led the cow back and looked at the lambs. After coming out, he helped his parents cut grass and tidy up the vegetable garden.

The excavator will come tomorrow and build a road up the mountain. There is no need to go around the mountain from the top of the mountain to the bottom because the slope is not steep. We can just build a straight road up.

Just go straight up along the road in the middle of the shrimp pond and make it three meters wide.

After reaching the top of the mountain, we will start to wind around the mountain and continue to build until we reach the cabin on the top of the mountain.

The original path built along the mountain stream will remain as a path without any changes.

Going up the mountain would destroy some of the pasture and vegetable gardens, so they harvested the vegetables and pasture that were going to be destroyed today to avoid waste.

The freshly cut grass is directly chopped up with a lawn mower and fed to cattle and sheep. No silage or hay is fed recently.

It was already half past six when Lin Heng finished his work. He was holding a basket of picked purslane, which he had just picked from tidying up the vegetable garden.

"Wife, let's have some cold purslane tonight."

Lin Heng shouted as he pushed open the door.

In the house, Xiulan was collecting the dried sweet potatoes that had been steamed and dried three times. Xiaoxia was eating them secretly in the name of helping.

Seeing the basket he was carrying, Xiulan nodded and said, "Sure, have you picked the ones?"

"Yes, just wash it and serve it cold." Lin Heng nodded.

After saying that, he put down the basket and came over to help. Xiaoxia took some dried sweet potatoes and wanted to give them to him.

After putting away the things, Lin Heng helped to cook. In the evening, Xiulan made cold noodles, and the other dishes included cold purslane and cold shredded cucumber.

While eating purslane with a unique texture and flavor, Lin Heng and Xiulan chatted about what they did in the afternoon and ended the day happily.

(End of this chapter)